Monday, January 12, 2015

IT SNOWED!

1/12/2015

Wahooo! We finally have snow! It's so great. It's been
stinkin' cold this week though. It was like -30 for two days. Needless to say,
we didn't have much luck finding since we couldn't really tract, but we had a
great week of getting people progressing and to church! Wahooo!

Monday, I think we just did all the normal P-Day
stuff...We played at Fishers for a while. I played frisbee with an elder I was
so sore the next day. Who knew frisbee was a workout haha. Then we went to the
Smth's to dinner with the Westfield Elders and then shared a message then we
went to see Sister Knsly. She lives just up the road from us and makes some
good Filipino food. She lives by herself, so we usually just drop by to see how
she's doing.

Tuesday, it had snowed quite a bit, so we went out and
tried some people then we had to drop by the mission office and went to see Crl.
We shoveled her walk and cleaned off her van and shared a message. She wants to
continue learning, but she also thinks she wants to go get baptized in the
River Jordan. I guess we just have to make sure we send a priesthood holder
with her so she can get baptized by the proper authority! :) I don't think she
quite understands that yet...we just gotta start meeting with her consistently
again. After we had lunch, we went to teach Jhnnh at the Flnr's. It was such a
good lesson. Jhnnh was sober, so it was AWESOME. Such a better lesson than we
had had before. And it was good to be in the Flnr's home where the spirit is.
Afterward, we went to see Dnn with Chrstn, the recent convert from the YSA
Branch who we just went to the baptism for. Dnn LOVES to talk. I don't think
she's really interested in the gospel...she's just lonely. But we're going to
give her a shot and hopefully she'll feel the spirit!. I totally biffed it
outsider her house in the snow while I was trying to get snow to throw a
snowball at Sister Hls. Karma. We then went to teach Chm. She is a recently
returning member from...I think it's Nigeria...she's awesome. Then we had
dinner with the Klly Clan. Sbrn's baby is seriously so cute. I got to wrap all
of Sm's birthday presents too, so that was fun. He is prepared for the Zombie
Apocalypse with all his new guns and such. We went to see Sister Hstn after
that. She's a busy lady and is a saint. She serves so many people. It just
stinks that she isn't able to make it to church very often. Hopefully soon.

Wednesday, it was FREEZING! So we had a family history
day. We started off helping the Flnr's, as usual. We found some good stuff. Sister
Flnr is crusin' on hers. They have so many names to do. Then after lunch, we
went and taught Sister Bmn how to index and said goodbye to her cause she's
moving to North Carolina. We then attempted to teach Chrstn how to do family
history, but he didn't really have enough info to find anything, so that was
his assignment haha. We had dinner with the Strns then went to Young Women's.

Thursday, it was bitter cold again. We started out the day
weekly planning then went to see some people with no success so we went and
taught Sister Prdds and showed Sister Hls the hammocks in the basement. We
stopped by and followed up with Jstn and he's been reading the Book of Mormon
(WahooO!) and we set up a follow up appointment so we can actually go inside
since his wife is at basic training. We had dinner with the Hthwy's and dropped
off some stuff of Sister Stdmn's.

Friday, we taught Jhnnh at the Flnr's again in the
morning. It was SUCH a good lesson. She's getting it, definitely feeling the
spirit, and committed to a baptismal date of Feb. 14th! Wahoo! And she
committed to her friend to stop drinking by Jan. 22nd. We haven't even taught
her the Word of Wisdom yet. We had to head to Frankfort right after to ride
with the Sisters up to Lafayette for Zone Meeting. It was a pretty good
meeting. Sister Hls and I's training went rather well, I think... We came home
after and went to the Brwn's for dinner then taught a part-member family from
China, Jck and Crl. They are hilarious.

Saturday, we were in a trio with Sister Sndbrg because her
companion went to the temple. We started out the day with the Klly Clan
teaching Sbrn. Eljh was good through most of it until we tried to share a
message haha. He's a terrible baby for them. At least he's cute! We had lunch
then taught the Flnr's cause everyone who is new that comes to Carmel has to
meet the Flnrs. We did some contacting after that then went to Wstfld's baptism
with Jy. He didn't really want to go at first, but I think he really liked it
and felt the spirit. We had dinner with the Brghm's after that (boneless
ribs...YUM) and went to see Sister Clrvx. I definitely fell AGAIN outside her
apartment. Sister Hls and Sister Sndbrg were dying and Sister Clrvx and her son
both saw too. Pretty hilarious. I'm already up to #2 of falling in a week. I'll
set a record this year!

Sunday was awesome! We went to the Westfield Sacrament
with Jhnnh because she had to work at 11. It was a little over her head cause
it was all about temples and family history, but she said it was good and we've
just got to explain baptisms for the dead. She thought we took people out of
the grave...whoops haha. Then we went to our own church. Ssn and her daughters
(who fed us the first Monday of this transfer and told us we believe in a
different Jesus) came to church with us...I think mostly so then we have the
obligation to come to theirs, but I think they enjoyed it. They said it was
different. They were studying the hymn book. It was definitely interesting. But
we'll go to their church probably next weekend. After church, we had Stake
Coordination in Fishers then had dinner with the Bry's. They have a homemade
version of David and Goliath that they made. It's pretty funny. We stopped by
to try a referral and see a member because Why I Believe got cancelled because
of an ice storm and everything was definitely icy, so we slipped and slided and
decided to just go play dominos and share a message with the Smthhrts haha. I
love having the senior missionaries around when it's not safe to drive.

And that's about it. Oh I'm staying in Carmel for the last
6 weeks of my mission!

To answer letters:

Good ol' Stacy. I always want her on my team to get more
money haha. (My Stacy is quite the negotiator – she always
gets the best deals)

Eh, Steak and Shake is alright. I don't really love their
shakes. Their burgers are pretty decent though.

That's funny about Sean. Our whole family basically knows
him now. (Someone I met up at my nephew's homecoming in
Ammon, Idaho who knows Darcie but ended up that my daughter Heather – from Farmington
– had also met him and his wife a few days before. His grandmother lives by
Heather)

No news on the temple dates. Probably June, July, or
later. I've heard all sorts of things. It looks super good though. The Tuckers
will be going through soon though over in Ohio, so if it's after I get home, we
might have to come back in March. (I'll be glad for
Darcie to get home because it will probably include some road trips)

Sister Hivner was in the MTC at the same time as me, but I
didn't know her til I got out here.

Oh and the vacuum ate my straightener cord this
morning...so I think we'll have to go straightener shopping for my birthday
haha. One less thing to pack home. I think it'll work for the rest of my
mission though hopefully...I'll just get some electrical tape. (She wants to come home with an empty suitcase)

Dad, I'm up for all those New Year's goals with you. Next
year, let's go to Cali. I'm in. And then we can go to the hockey game too. And
your interpretations of Isaiah were awesome. Especially the rearward one. I was
dying laughing.

Something I learned this week was in Helaman 14:11. This
is Samuel the Lamanite when he is trying to tell the people about Jesus Christ
coming. He definitely states his purpose. He knew that he was there to help the
people to repent and come to God. And that's exactly what we are here to do
also. We are so blessed to have the gospel, so we have the responsibility to
share it, regardless of the reaction of the audience!